


Got Fire For A Heart

by thezaynlife



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Blow Jobs, Hand Jobs, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-08-08
Packaged: 2018-04-13 14:34:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4525752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thezaynlife/pseuds/thezaynlife
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“So, can we talk about the elephant in the room?” The reporter from Billboard asked and Louis winced, knowing where this was going. “Louis, who’s the little lady?”</p>
<p>“I am fostering a little girl for the time being.”</p>
<p>“Aren’t you too busy for raising a child? You’re a little young, aren’t you?” Louis frowned and shrugged, looking at his hands.</p>
<p>“I think I can handle it and I know my boys have got my back. I’ve got a good support team.”</p>
<p>-<br/>Louis decides to foster a little girl during the On The Road Again tour.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Got Fire For A Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Octoberrose11](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Octoberrose11/gifts).



> For the prompt 'Louis decides to adopt a little girl, even though they're in the middle of a sold out tour. Everyone but Zayn thinks it's a bad idea and are standoffish with her at first. Zayn, being an awesome uncle, spends a lot of time with the pair. Then he and Louis fall in love and she has a daddy and a papa to love her', I went a little off prompt and started this way before babygate.

Louis needed something. He and Eleanor had broken up, tour was on break, Zayn-

 

Not thinking about him. He thought stubbornly to himself as he pressed so hard on the notebook he ripped through the paper. Liam looked at him with badly concealed concern.

 

"I'm fine."

 

"Lou-"

 

"I said I'm fine."

 

He felt restless. Like he needed a cigarette but when he went out to have a smoke it didn’t fix that tingling sensation just under his skin. It was like the adrenaline before a show without the outlet to release the energy running around on stage. He was even more snappish and Liam got the brunt of it. He and Niall were always around him now, if one of them wasn't in a room with him it was the other. When it was both, during a writing session or trying to hammer out a melody for a potential track, they looked at each other and held silent conversations that had a lot of head nods and hand gestures towards Louis. Harry had fucked off god knows where as per usual with him lately. Even when they're all in the same city, it's like Harry goes out of his way to not be around.

 

He can fuck off entirely, Louis thought bitterly as he dropped his pen onto the torn pages, we don't need him either. His eyes stung and Louis nearly gave himself a black eye with the force of his knuckles digging into his eyes. He had to get out of there.

 

"I've got to get out of here." He said to Liam, standing and putting his phone and wallet into his pockets.

 

"Louis." Liam said a touch tenderly, reaching an arm out to wrap a hand around Louis' slighter wrist.

 

"It's just a burger, Liam, I'm not going to jump off the roof of the building." It was clearly the wrong thing to say because Liam's face twisted horribly upset like it was a thing Louis considered.

 

"Don't ever say that!" Liam whispered forcefully with a devastated look, squeezing Louis' wrist.

 

"It's just an expression, Payno." Louis guiltily twisted his hand out of Liam's grip and headed for the door. He glanced back and Liam had his head in his hands, shoulders hunched like he wanted to curl up into a ball and stay there for at least the next year. Louis' stomach flopped and he closed the door behind him. These last few weeks has been hard for Louis but Liam had it worse because no one raised an eyebrow at Louis acting out, Liam had to pretend like everything was grand and there wasn't a huge empty presence everywhere they went, because that's what people expected of Liam. Daddy Direction and all that. Liam didn't really get to process it, he had to jump straight into it with a smile and some carefully thought out words to questions they didn't want to answer about the whole thing. Louis is just glad it's not him tasked with answering those same wound picking questions over and over again.

 

It just-

 

The whole thing fucking sucked, in Louis’ opinion. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, broken and in pieces. They weren't supposed to be trying to work out how to make five parts into four.

 

Alberto met him at the curb with a car and driver. Louis have him a smile in thanks and Alberto clapped a hand on his shoulder before ushering him into the car and shutting the door.

 

"I want a burger, don't care from where."

 

"Drive through or a restaurant?"

 

"Drive through, I don't want to wait. I'm hungry." His stomach rumbled and he patted it absently. Without another word, the driver pulled away and merged into traffic. Louis let the buildings and trees blur past, mind in another place entirely.

 

"Don't think I've ever seen you this quiet." Louis only hummed in response, suddenly bone tired. The driver, Louis thought his name might be Evan, glanced back in the rear view at Louis with concern or maybe pity and Louis looked out the window blankly.

 

Some time later, they pulled into a parking lot and Louis looked out at the menu, taking in the slightly different types of burgers available.

 

“I want a number six no pickles, extra ketchup, large with a chocolate shake.” Louis recited up to Evan-probably who repeated it to the voice behind the speakers. Louis zoned out, looking back at the menu again and scanned over the advertisement for the charity the restaurant was supporting, helping foster children find homes with people and not just stuck in overstuffed group houses. The picture had a man holding the hand of an excited boy who was leading him forward to some grand adventure.

 

“Would you like to donate a dollar to Finding Families Foster Charity?” The voice asked and Louis absently mumbled a yes. He handed up a twenty and drifted, staring at the rip in his jeans at the knee, fiddling with the threads.

 

What if-

 

No, he couldn’t. He had the rest of the tour. Had the busiest life possible. He had no space for a kid anywhere in his life, it just wouldn’t be realistic to even think about dragging a poor kid through a tour, or putting his mom on babysitting duty six days a week. It just wouldn’t be feasible to adopt a kid.

 

There was no point in even thinking about it.

 

~

Louis keeps finding himself on the charity’s website, is the thing.

 

Liam will be talking to him about changing a harmony and Louis will look at his phone and the website will be pulled up. When Niall comes into his room to ask for an iphone charger, Louis clicks out of the tab on his laptop like it’s porn. He looks at the link to download the application every day, staring at it as if it will download itself if he looks at it long enough.

 

He can’t even talk to anyone about it, he knows what they would say. They are in the middle of a tour, after all, despite currently being on a bit of a break between Asia and Europe and he couldn’t imagine taking a baby on the road and didn’t see how he could just take a kid in and then drop them off at his mum’s like a load of laundry needing washing.

 

Maybe if he went and saw the kids for himself he’d be able to put this whole thing behind him as a laugh he’d had when he went a bit spare over everything that happened these past few months. ‘Remember when I almost adopted a baby?’ He’d say one day in a laugh and Liam, Harry and Niall would join in, remembering that weird phase and how Louis nearly went and adopted a real live tiny human. It would be such a laugh.

 

Louis stared at the website again.

 

~

 

“Thank you for your interest, Mr. Tomlinson. I understand your position, we are absolutely discreet and confidential. We just want to get these kids into good homes.” The foster mother, Violet Jones, met him at his car, shaking his hand once he’d stepped out. She had gray streaking her temples and had soft laugh lines, looking tired but kind.

 

“I understand, and thanks.” She led Louis up to the door Louis looked around at the slightly overgrown lawn with a pile of bikes over by a large tree with a tire swing and a sad looking half deflated football on the roof.

 

“How many kids are here?”

 

“Right now, five. We’re going to meet them all right now. Nate and Lacy, our twins, are both eight, Jake is six, Jasmine is four and Katie is one.” She counted off on her fingers, carefully stepping around abandoned toys and backpacks and shoes. “Kids! Come say hello!” The five children looked over at Violet and dropped their toys and games, coming over to greet Louis. The twins were the tallest of the lot and they both had blonde hair, Nate in a close cropped buzz cut and Lacy in a jaw length bob, held back by a flowery headband. They chirped a hello at the same time and Louis smiled at them kindly. Jake grinned with his tongue poking out of his missing tooth gap when Louis looked at him after Violet introduced him and Louis waved hello. Jasmine barely looked up from the floor when she was introduced, hiding behind her heavy dark fringe, mumbling a shy but polite greeting. Katie couldn’t talk yet but she gurgled cheerily, grabbing onto Jasmine for balance. Violet picked up Katie and handed her to Louis and he followed her to the living room with Katie on his hip.

 

“Hi!” He said to her softly, poking a finger into her soft stomach to make her giggle. She babbled and blew spit bubbles, clapping her hand to his chest and grabbing a handful of hair. He winced and set her down, watching with a smile as she toddled away to her toys. Louis watched the children play for a while before realizing Jasmine was sitting by herself reading a book. He sat cross legged beside her and set his elbow on his knee and rested his chin in his hand. “Not one for playing with a group?” Jasmine just shook her head, fringe nearly covering her eyes.

 

“I like to read.” She whispered almost inaudibly and Louis smiled at her kindly.

 

“That’s good, reading is very important!” She looked up, smiling shyly at him and he pulled a silly face, making her giggle. Louis let her read her book, going to see the other children but every few minutes he would glance back at her sitting on her own like he couldn’t dare look away for more than a moment.

 

“Any paternal instincts kicking in?” Violet teased after catching Louis looking back at Jasmine again for the tenth time in as many minutes.

 

“Yeah, about that…”

 

~

“How do you feel about carrying?” Louis asked as he buckled Jasmine into the carseat the next weekend. He knew some kids liked it and some hated it. Lottie liked being carried everywhere when she was little but the rest of his siblings loved their freedom more so he figured best best was to just ask.

 

“I don’t mind sometimes but not all the time. I’m not a baby.”

 

“Right, of course not! You’re four, practically old enough to live on your own.”

 

“I don’t know how to cook.” Jasmine said, looking down at her tiny hands like they would magically know how to cook a four course meal.

 

Louis leaned in conspiratorially, looking left and right before whispering “Me either, I order in.” Jasmine smiled and kicked her feet happily in the car seat. Louis hefted the bag of her things into the seat next to her, filled with clothes, shoes, a few dolls and some books, getting into the front to drive to his flat.

 

“What do you do for work?” Jasmine asked about five minutes later and Louis winced. He’d thought that would come later, definitely not so soon after picking Jasmine up.

 

“I...am in music.”

 

“Do you sing?” Louis looked back in the rear view mirror and Jasmine looked up at the back of his head like he was genuinely waiting to know the answer.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Are you in a band?”  
  


“Yes.”

 

“Are you any good?”

 

“You’ve got a lot of questions today, haven’t you?”

 

“Is that adult for no?” Louis huffed a laugh and glanced back at her, she blinked her wide eyes at him and tilted her head to wait for his answer. He wondered where the shy girl had gone to, as the Jasmine in the back seat was a vast difference from the one back at the house.

 

“We’re pretty good, I’d wager. Got a few fans.”

 

“Cool. Can I hear a song?” Louis almost went for the case of CDs between the seats before he realized he wouldn’t have his own CD.

 

“I don’t exactly listen to our own CD in the car, I can play you something when we get in, how’s that?”

 

“Okay.” Louis nodded to himself as he turned onto the road his flat was on, parking at his door and getting out to let Jasmine out of her carseat and she jumped out of the car and skipped to the door, Louis following close behind with her bag. “Do you live by yourself?”

 

“Just me, yeah. Thought about getting a dog, maybe, but I work a lot so that’s really not a good idea.” Louis turned the key and opened the door, Jasmine rushed in and looked all around at the freshly cleaned flat, moving from the hall to the living room where the huge telly was surrounded by shelves of DVDs.

 

“That’s okay, you’ve got me now!”

 

“I do! And you’ve got me, we’re a team.” Louis held his hand out for a high five and Jasmine indulged him with a smile, giggling and bending over to pull her shoes off her feet and set them by the door in the habit she’d gotten into at the other foster home. Louis smiled and put his next to hers neatly instead of kicking them off wherever he felt like, feeling a new page turning over in his life. “Do you wanna see your room?”

 

“Yeah!”

 

~

LOUIS TOMLINSON A DAD?!

 

ONE DIRECTION’S LOUIS TOMLINSON SEEN WITH A VERY ADORABLE LITTLE GIRL, IS THE ELDEST BOYBAND SINGER/SONGWRITER HIDING A FOUR YEAR OLD SECRET? WHO IS THE LITTLE DARLING AND WHERE DID SHE COME FROM?

 

~

 

Louis threw the paper down on the desk, scrubbing his hands over his eyes to stop looking at the paparazzi pictures outside his house bringing Jasmine inside for the first time. He had a full inbox of missed calls from management and he just didn’t want to deal with it right now. He opened up the group chat and sent a ‘my place?’ text to Liam, Harry and Niall and almost instantaneously received three texts back agreeing.

 

“Are you hungry?” He asked and Jasmine looked up from her book with a look of concentration like she was so invested in the book she forgot about herself, nodding eventually. “What would you like?”

 

“Can I have a cheese toastie?”

 

“You’re in luck, I am a master at those! Let’s go to the kitchen.” He also really only has the ingredients for that, his fridge content was getting low. He set the pan on the stove and turned it on to get it hot when they were ready to go.  They had barely bitten into their sandwiches when the doorbell rang. Suddenly the sandwich felt like lead in his stomach. Louis went to open the door, glad that all three of them had apparently come together so he wouldn’t have to explain three times. He stepped back to let them in and closed the door behind them.

 

“Lucy, you got some ‘splaining to do.” Niall joked and withered under the glare Liam sent him, putting his hand up to his mouth and biting the nail anxiously.

 

“This is completely irresponsible, I know you don’t think things through all the time, but this is really the worst idea you’ve ever had. We’re leaving in less than two months! You could have at least asked us what we thought.”

 

“I didn’t have you here to argue, I want her to meet you.” Liam frowned and curled his hands into fists but said nothing else. Louis looked to Niall and he motioned to zip his lip and Harry was craning his neck around to see if he could see her. “Jasmine?” He called out and there was a chair scrape in the kitchen and the pat of small feet and she walked out into the entryway still clutching her half eaten toastie. She looked between Louis and the other boys and then walked over to hide behind his legs, looking at them shyly. “Say hello, these lads are going to be like,” He stopped, trying to think of a good title for them, “your new uncles.”

 

“‘Lo.” She whispered, clutching at Louis’ pant leg.

 

“Hello sweetheart, I’m Harry.” Harry knelt down to get on her eye level, producing a small plush unicorn from who knows where and holding it out. She took it with a small smile and a thank you.

 

“I’m Niall! Nice to meet ya! I didn’t know we’d be bringing gifts otherwise I’d have brought ya somethin’ too, I’m a cool uncle I promise.” Niall laughed and bent over at the waist instead of kneeling, waving his hand and smiling.

 

“I’m Liam.” He murmured, unable to be rude to the little girl because it wasn’t her fault Louis tended to do things without fully thinking them through.

 

“Let’s watch a movie, yeah?” Harry piped up, looking to Louis’ never ending stack of DVD’s from The Aristocats to Zathura, there would be at least something the four of them could all agree on that would be okay for Jasmine to watch too. Liam took the chair by itself on the far right and Louis and Niall crammed into the couch with Jasmine sitting between them. Harry looked through the bookshelf full of DVD’s, dragging a finger along the spines until finding what he was looking for. “Aha! Aladdin! Have you seen this yet, Jazzy?” Jasmine shook her head and Harry gasped dramatically. “You’ll love it, promise. There’s a princess I want you to meet.” Harry sat cross legged on the floor leaning against the couch and Louis looked around the room at his boys with a soft smile.

 

Harry and Niall had warmed to Jasmine pretty much right away, Louis knew that Harry loved kids so it wouldn’t be an issue there, and Niall loved everything so he couldn’t be mad for too long. Liam was another story.  He knew Liam was just trying to keep everyone's best interests at heart and keep the band in mind as well as Jasmine's well being so he would be more difficult than the others. Louis had only had Jasmine for about a week and he already loved having her around, couldn’t imagine giving her away again. Louis knew he was fucked but he didn’t want to think about it, he just wanted to enjoy the time with Jasmine he had now.

 

~

 

“So, can we talk about the elephant in the room?” The reporter from Billboard asked and Louis winced, knowing where this was going. “Louis, who’s the little lady?”

 

“I am fostering a little girl for the time being.”

 

“Aren’t you too busy for raising a child? You’re a little young, aren’t you?” Louis frowned and shrugged, looking at his hands.

 

“I think I can handle it and I know my boys have got my back. I’ve got a good support team.”

 

“Fellas, what do you think?” She turned the mic to the others and naturally, Liam took the lead.

 

“It was a shock, definitely, but we all believe in him, and support him one hundred percent.”

 

“I’m first on call for babysitting.” Harry drawled and the interviewer laughed, changing the subject to the new album. Louis glanced at the other boys and smiled tightly.

 

That wasn’t so hard.

 

~

 

There was a banging on his front door a few days later and Louis glanced at Jasmine still drawing without a care in the world and stood to answer it. When he checked the peephole he reared back in shock, eyebrows raising into his fringe, never expecting this visitor in a million years. Louis took a breath as another series of rapid knocks tapped loudly on his door and he straightened his shoulders and opened the door with what he hoped was a cool and neutral expression.

 

“What the fuck, Louis?!” Zayn said as he shouldered past Louis into his flat.

 

“Language.” He muttered, glancing at Jasmine who had startled at Zayn’s sharp voice.

 

“Language? Language?! Louis, you just fucking adopted a baby!” Zayn hissed, fingers scrabbling across his shorn scalp like he was still not used to it being so closely buzzed.

 

“I didn’t adopt her, I’m fostering her, it’s only temporary.”

 

“Is this because of Eleanor?” Zayn asked as he stared at Louis as if he had grown an extra head right there.

 

“Please, I can exist without her, you know.”

 

“You dated her for nearly as long as I’ve known you, that’s a long time.” Zayn said as he knelt down next to Jasmine coloring, changing his tone and softening entirely. “Hi, princess. I’m Zayn.”

 

“I’m Jasmine.” She said shyly, smiling to him, her stick figure drawing abandoned briefly.

 

“I like your drawing, I’m an artist too but you’re much better than me.” The little girl blushed and grinned up at Zayn, looking at him for a long moment.

 

“I’m going to draw you!” She said and grabbed a new piece of paper, starting to draw a wobbly circle, tongue sticking out in concentration. Zayn smiled at the top of her head and then turned to Louis and he turned steely. He got up and grabbed Louis roughly by the arm, dragging him to the other side of the room to whisper yell.

 

"What were you fucking thinking, you're in the middle of a tour. There's no way for you to be raising a kid right now."  Zayn stabbed a finger into Louis’ chest, hard enough that he nearly had to take a step back at the force.

 

"I was getting a burger." He said staring Zayn down and he barked a laugh.

 

"And your thought process was 'I want a burger, might as well adopt a fucking baby!'?"

 

"They had a donation for a foster charity. I thought about this for a while actually, children aren't an impulse buy at the checkout, you know." Zayn stared at Louis in that deep introspective way Zayn stared at everything and crossed his arms over his chest.

 

"Is this a cry for attention? Because well done, all eyes on you, mate."

 

"No, if I was crying for attention, I'd just bleach my fucking head!" Louis pointed at his own hair and Zayn scoffed, turning away.

 

"You know how long I've wanted to be able to experiment with different hairstyles and how long I've been told to not do anything drastic because of the fans. I didn't do this for attention I did it for me." He ran a hand over his short blonde stubble of hair and Louis felt the fight seep out of him all at once. It was really hard to be mad at Zayn when Zayn was actually right there, it was always easier to fight Zayn without him right in front of him, it's how all their arguments lasted all of a day because Louis could never hold on to his will to fight when Zayn would look at him that way that Zayn does, all x-ray like deep into his soul.

 

"That's why I wanted to do this. Something for me, not for anyone else. I just wanted one thing, one thing that I could be in control of that wouldn't abandon me." Louis' voice got small at the end and he really wanted to curl up into a ball and disappear forever. Zayn's expression softened and he sighed, stepping in close and wrapping his arms around Louis, resting his chin on Louis' shoulder.

 

"I didn't abandon you. You know that right? It was never you or the other boys. I just couldn't do it anymore I felt like a puppet, like a doll someone else controlled and presented to look pretty and sing on command. I wasn't happy." He mumbled directly into Louis' ear and Louis tilted his head so he leaned into Zayn.

 

"None of us are happy. It's hard now, harder than ever because we fucking miss you all the time and no offense but your high notes are ridiculous and no one should be allowed to sing that high." Zayn huffed a laugh, turning to press his nose into the juncture where shoulder met neck.

 

"I miss you too, so fucking much. It's not easy for me either, I thought it would be, leave the tour, come home and see Perrie all the time and be with my family. But it's not because I'll see something and turn to talk to you about it and you're not there, or I'll see a book Haz was talking about wanting to read when he got a spare moment, or something that I thought Liam should get Sophia or catch Niall on the TV at a game and just miss the fuck out of all of you so much I just want to take it all back and come home to you because you boys will always be home, even when you antagonize my other friends you don't like." Louis dug his fingers into Zayn's side and Zayn jerked away with a huff of laughter.

 

"He's a fucking prick, he was waving you in my face like 'I win, you lose'," Louis stuck out his tongue and raised his fingers in a v in a mocking gesture and then rolled his eyes, "I'm not so great at not fighting when people try me, you know that."

 

"He's still my friend."

 

"Well tell him to fucking cut it out and I'll leave it because it goes both ways."  Louis crossed his arms and watched Jasmine draw on the other side of the room, reminding himself to stop swearing so much before she started repeating him and everyone kicked his ass for getting a four year old to swear.

 

Zayn was quiet for a long time as they both looked at Jasmine. "Can I come visit her? And you, of course."

 

"You know my door is never closed to you, idiot."

 

"You were pretty mad when I left and then that Twitter thing, but I was annoyed that you kept coming for Shahid like every week and I just thought maybe you wouldn't want to see me."

 

"Zayn, you left the band and I still let you in here, there's literally nothing you could do that would make me ever turn you away." Louis looked everywhere but at Zayn and Zayn reached out and stopped his hand right next to Louis', hesitating, and Louis reached out with his and took it, twining their fingers together the way they used to when they would smoke up in bus one and just want company and contact. There was never anything because Zayn had Perrie and Louis had Eleanor but sometimes when Louis smoked too much, he thought about it, about taking the joint out of Zayn's mouth and straddling his narrow hips, shotgunning the smoke with lips pressed tight together to keep any of it seeping out. But then Zayn would talk about how he was excited to get to go home for break to see Perrie and reality came back in and Louis felt awful for thinking about it later, remembering after the fact he hadn't even considered Eleanor.

 

Zayn squeezed his hand and Louis came back to the present, smiling softly at the inquisitive look, shaking his head. While he might not have Eleanor anymore, Zayn still had Perrie and Louis just thought Zayn was fit and it wasn't like he was in love with Zayn or anything, of course he loved him, loved all the boys, but he wasn't in love. He wasn't.

 

"Y'alright, Lou? Went a bit quiet on me, that's not like you." Zayn teased as he shouldered into Louis with a soft grin.

 

"Louis!"

 

"Yes, love?"

 

"She calls you Louis?" Zayn muttered and Louis elbowed him in the ribs.

 

"I'm hungry! I finished my drawing." She walked over with the paper drawing side to her and presented it to Zayn bashfully. He took it with a smile, kneeling as he turned the paper over.

 

"Wow! It looks just like me!” Zayn looked at the blonde misshapen figure in the same red henley and black jeans he was wearing, holding the drawing carefully.“You're so good, I gotta put this up on my wall, can I have this?" Jasmine smiled brightly with an eager nod. “Sign it for me? Proper artists always sign their name on the bottom so people can know who made it.” Jasmine nodded sagely and took the paper back, going to get a crayon to sign her name very carefully.

 

“She's a sweet kid." Louis said quietly and Zayn hummed.

 

"You'll make her a hellion in no time."

 

"Fuck off!"

 

"See?" Zayn laughed and Jasmine came back with her drawing, presenting it back to him again with JASMINE in big blocky letters on the bottom right. "Thank you so much! One of these days I wanna show you my art room, I draw on the walls." He whispered conspiratorially and Jasmine's eyes lit up.

 

"Your mama and daddy let you draw on the walls?!" She nearly yelled in excitement and Zayn laughed, poking at her sides to make her giggle while shaking his head.

 

"My ammi would never let me draw on her walls but I have my own house now so I have an entire room dedicated to drawing right on the walls!" Jasmine looked over at Louis and bit her lip, going shy.

 

"Can I have a drawing room, Louis?" Zayn pulled a face and mouthed sorry and Louis did his best to hide the smile.

 

"Maybe, let's get something to eat and we'll talk about it, okay? Go put your shoes on." He had already decided which room he would clean out to let her draw on, he really didn't need two spare bedrooms anyway.

 

"Can Zayn come?" Jasmine asked as she carefully slipped her feet into the tiny Vans Louis had bought her that matched his favorite pair.

 

"As long as he is okay with going to see Harry, Liam and Niall, they wanted to try that new pizza place when you were ready to eat, remember?" Louis looked at Zayn and after a second he nodded, biting his lip. "Then yes." Jasmine screamed happily, jumping up and down and grabbed Zayn's hand.

 

"Let's go!" She started running at the door and Zayn followed with her, pretending like she was actually pulling him along. Louis took out his phone and sent off a ready to eat! text in the group chat and looked at Zayn and Jasmine, adding bringing a +1 and almost immediately three sets of dots popped up.

 

u got a date?

 

Who is coming with us I thought it was band bonding with Jazzy :(

 

finally I've been starved for ages!!!!

 

Louis rolled his eyes and pocketed his phone, putting his own shoes on. He grabbed his wallet, his keys and followed them out the door, locking it.

 

The restaurant wasn’t too far from Louis’ flat so the drive only took a few minutes, spent arguing that Jasmine and Zayn both agreed that Aladdin was the greatest Disney movie ever made, while Louis insisted it was Peter Pan.

 

“That one is so old though!”  
  


“Aladdin is older than you.”

 

“Peter Pan is even older! Plus Aladdin has Princess Jasmine, only the coolest princess ever!”

 

“Yeah!” Jasmine piped up from the back seat, pumping her little fist. Louis smiled at her in the rear view mirror, feeling his stance on Peter Pan waver.

 

“Fine, I’ll give you that one. Do love that Genie.”

 

“You ain’t never had a friend like me!” Zayn sung, barely getting through the line before laughing with his tongue pressed against his teeth, eyes scrunched in mirth. Louis rolled his eyes with a smile and Jasmine giggled.

 

“You two are the worst, ganging up on me.” Louis mumbled as he pulled into the parking lot. Jasmine got herself out of the car seat before Louis or Zayn unbuckled their belts and the three of them walked into the restaurant.

 

“They won’t mind, will they?” Zayn asked, suddenly having second thoughts.

 

“Definitely not.” Louis replied with absolute sincerity. Liam, Harry and Niall were all far more understanding and accepting of Zayn’s decision than Louis and Louis had crumpled in under five minutes back in the presence of Zayn so the other boys wouldn’t be an issue. The young hostess behind the podium stared for a beat too long when she recognized Louis and Zayn and cleared her throat with an apologetic smile, leading them and Jasmine to the other boys at two tables pushed together to make room for all six of them.

 

Harry noticed them first because Liam and Niall were sitting across from each other and Harry chose the end that was facing the door, his eyes widened and he gasped quietly before scrambling out of his chair and running at them. Zayn stopped dead, even took a step back to prepare himself for a punch or a shove or something but Harry collided with him and lifted him off the ground easily, spinning him in a circle with arms tightly wrapped around his waist.

 

“Missed you, too, H.” Zayn muttered into his ear and Harry’s arms tightened further around him.

 

“Haz he needs to breathe.” Liam joked at his shoulder, and Harry buried his face into Zayn’s neck, shaking his head.

 

“No breathing until I catch up on my missed hugs, it’s been months.” Zayn rolled his eyes but ran a hand over Harry’s back until Harry decided that was enough.

 

“You didn’t have to be so mysterious you prick, coulda just said it was Zee!” Niall good naturedly punched Louis in the shoulder and Louis squawked, rubbing his dead arm.

 

“Where’s the fun in that?”

 

“Alright Harry, enough, it’s my turn!” Liam tried to peel Harry off, resorting to digging his fingers into his soft and ticklish spots when Harry tried to turn octopus and cling on. Harry instinctively tucked his arms into his sides and stuck two fingers up at Liam’s back, not so smoothly turning it into scratching at his face when Jasmine looked at him.

 

“Let’s not make a scene in the restaurant.” Harry said like he hadn’t been the one to start it, taking Jasmine by the hand and walking back to the table. “I wanna sit by Jazzy!” Niall got his hug in with Zayn after Liam relinquished him and the four boys followed, quietly talking.

 

“You know,” Niall says after the waiter comes to take their order, a little starry eyed, “If you wanted to be me so bad you should have said something.” He runs a hand over the short blonde hair at the top of Zayn’s head, barely long enough to bleach. The entire table breaks into raucous laughter and Jasmine looks between them all, smiling but not getting the joke as she colored in the paper menu.

 

“Y’know I’ve always admired those blonde locks! It’s true what they say, blondes do have more fun.” Zayn winks dramatically and sets off another round of laughter that has an older couple near them shushing loudly.

 

The meal goes by easily and uneventfully, aside from Jasmine spilling her juice all over her dress, Zayn filling back in with the four boys like he’d just seen them earlier that day and not months and months ago. Louis looks at him as he laughs at some story Liam was telling, at the expense of Niall judging by his red face and rolling eyes and thinks it’s nice to see his face in person again.

 

~

 

After that lunch, it’s like Louis couldn’t get rid of Zayn if he tried, like it was before when they could just sit and chill for hours or even days sharing maybe five words and just enjoying a comfortable presence. He comes over to visit Jasmine at least once a week, toting presents each time like he couldn’t dare show up empty handed.

 

Zayn had started coming around so often Jasmine took to calling him Uncle Zayn like with Uncle Harry, Uncle Niall and Uncle Liam. Louis would find his things all over the place, shoes here, sunglasses there, half finished canvases in Jasmine’s new drawing room, an extra toothbrush in the bathroom cabinet, lighters absolutely everywhere. A lot of clothes that Louis was pretty sure were Zayn’s but they had such a similar style he couldn’t be sure they weren’t his.

 

“Is Perrie gonna be angry you’re over here so much?” Louis asked one day as all five of them piled in Louis’ living room to rewatch The Incredibles, Jasmine snuggled between Liam and Louis on the couch.

 

“Uh, no? She shouldn’t feel anything about me being over here, it was her decision to call it quits last month, be a bit hypocritical of her to care now.”

 

“What the fuck?! Quits?!” Louis said and Liam clapped his hands over Jasmine’s ears a little too late, she looked between Liam and Louis with a drawn brow and a slight frown but said nothing.

 

“Yeah? Said it wasn’t working out, me being home all the time, ‘moping about like a sad cloud’.” He said, adopting her accent and then made a face, shrugging his shoulders.

 

“When was this?! Was it in the news?” Louis scrambled for his phone to Google, sure that even he would have heard of this news.

 

“Nah, keeping it quiet for now. Don’t have to tell the world my every move anymore, do I?”

 

“Did you lot know about this?” Louis asked the other three and Liam and Niall held carefully blank faces but Harry bit his lip and looked away at the floor, twisting one of his rings around his finger. “Haz? Harry.”

 

“After he came to lunch, we started texting and calling again and he told me the day of.” Louis frowned between Harry and Zayn, things were a bit strained between himself and Zayn after the whole twitter thing but honestly he was over it so why did Zayn not want to tell him about this very important bit of information?

 

"Why didn't you tell me?" Zayn looked over at him from under his lashes and shrugged one shoulder.

 

"Didn't come up." Louis glared at him and jumped to his feet.

 

"Headache." He stormed away to the bedroom, slamming the door behind him, ignoring the others calling his name. Louis dived onto the bed, pulling the covers out from under his legs and up until just his untamed fringe was the only part of him uncovered.

 

Mere seconds later someone knocked on the door, a soft "Louis?" accompanying it and Louis rolled his eyes at Liam's voice. Of course they'd send Liam 'team mediator' Payne to talk to him.

 

"Go away Liam, this headache is killing me."

 

"Lou, come out so we can talk." Louis pressed his mouth closed, steadfastly ignoring Liam, rolling to put his back to the door. After a minute, Louis heard the soft padding of feet getting quieter. He could just barely hear muttering and then several pairs of feet shuffled around before the front door opened and shut, leaving silence in its wake. Another set of feet walked up to Louis’ door and instead of knocking, just opened it and closed it in the next second.

 

“Liam, I mean it, fuck off.”

 

“Not Liam, mate.” Louis craned his neck around fast enough it popped, frowning at Zayn approaching the bed.

 

“What are you doing?!” Zayn didn’t respond, just lifted the duvet and settled in beside Louis. “Get out!”

 

“No, not until we’re good. Li, Nialler and Haz took Jasmine to get ice cream, we’ve got about an hour. Now spill it, Tomlinson.” Louis stared at him like he just grew another head and started spitting poison before putting all his weight into trying to push Zayn out of the bed.

 

“Get the fuck out!” He pushed, sliding Zayn a few centimetres to the side but Zayn held his ground, he rolled his eyes and grabbed Louis’ slight wrists, holding him still as he struggled and tried to escape back.

 

“Why are you so mad about this?” Louis ignored it and tried to kick out at him, Zayn just swung a leg over him, straddling his thighs to trap his legs to the bed. Louis tried to buck his hips to dislodge Zayn but he took Louis’ hands and pressed them to his own chest, pinning his shoulders down in the process. Louis was stuck. "What's the matter?"

 

"I'm tired of being lied to!"

 

"Lied to? When did I lie?" Zayn leaned forward to crowd into Louis' eyeline, mouth twisted into a snarl.

 

"You lied about being with Perrie!"

 

"I didn't say shit about her! You just fucking assumed!"

 

"Because you've been with her for years, naturally I would think you're still with her!" Louis changed from trying to push Zayn off him to struggling to get away.

 

"I hadn't been wearing the ring on a chain in months."

 

"That was your engagement ring?! I thought that was Harry's!" Louis shocked him enough that he loosened his grip and Louis pulled his hands free, shoving hard at Zayn's shoulders to dislodge him, knocking him off his legs and over the side of the bed onto the floor.

 

"Why would I be wearing Harry's ring on a chain round my neck like a pining jock in the fifties?" He stared at Louis from the floor, standing up quickly and advancing on the bed again but Louis jumped out of it and slammed a hand up and Zayn bumped into it with his chest.

 

"I don't try to understand your bloody weird relationship. You share rings and clothes and girls."

 

"That was ages ago!" Zayn stepped closer and Louis stepped back, thighs abruptly backing into the side of the bed but Louis still held his ground with his hand still pressed to the center of Zayn’s chest. "There's nothing going on between me and Harry, if that's what's bothering you. He's all yours!" Zayn threw his hands up like he was actually throwing something invisible at Louis and Louis barked a laugh.

 

"I don't want Harry!" Zayn threw his hands up in a shrug like he was giving up, scoffing and turning away to walk to the door and then back right into his face.

 

"Then what the fuck do you want, Louis? Because I just can't tell anymore!" Louis stared at Zayn with his clenched fists and wild, angry eyes and without thinking of anything else he lunged forward. He grabbed a fist full of Zayn's shirt, tugging him close and slamming their mouths together, teeth knocking together almost painfully. Zayn made a noise of surprise and Louis pulled back after a short second before Zayn could fully react "Oh." He said after a dazed moment and Louis snorted.

 

"Oh." He replied sarcastically, wiping the back of his hand over his mouth and turning away to hide the bitter sting in his eyes he couldn't keep from rising.

 

"Lou, Louis look at me." Zayn put a hand on Louis' arm, turning him until they were face to face. He tucked his fingers under his chin, raising it so Louis was forced to look into Zayn's eyes. Soft kind eyes that weren't disgusted or pitying that leaned in closer watching him like he was a skittish deer, fluttering closed at the last second as Zayn hesitated a breath away before he pressed his lips to Louis', holding him still with a hand on his jaw. Louis held himself stock still until Zayn pulled away with a frown and a furrowed brow. "You're such a knob." He leaned in again, pressing rougher this time, opening his mouth after a second to run his tongue along Louis' bottom lip. Louis inhaled a gasp and Zayn took the moment to lick in his mouth, hand coming up to cup Louis' cheek, thumb skirting along the short stubble there.

 

"Yeah." Louis mumbled in Zayn's mouth and Zayn pulled back to laugh, his hand on Louis' hip sliding between them and Louis stuttered a gasp, head tilting back. Zayn made quick work of the loose joggers, pushing them down off his hips to get a hand on him. He looked down and Louis flushed, it wasn't the first time Zayn had seen his dick, but it was different now because there was intent and an accompanying erection against his thigh.

 

"Can't wait to get my mouth on you." Zayn mumbled and put his hand on Louis' cock, stroking him to full hardness. Louis choked a moan, knocking his head back and Zayn took the newly exposed throat as invitation to suck a bruise in, stubble making the sensitive skin there red even faster.

 

"God, yeah. Do that." Louis panted, fingers scrabbling on Zayn's shoulder and Zayn kneeled, making Louis bite back a curse.

 

"Do you know how long I've wanted to do this?" Zayn asked with a glance up through his lashes, licking his lips and Louis felt like he was gonna black out.

 

"Not nearly as long as I have." Louis panted, running his hand over the short shorn hair, pushing Zayn closer by the back of the head but he didn't budge, only smirking filthier.

 

"Did you know," Zayn starts conversationally as he jacks Louis to keep him hard, "there was this boy when I tried out for X Factor. He was loud and loved being in the center of attention and wasn't afraid to look like a fucking idiot dancing on stage. I saw him, standing by me at the dance boot camp, thinking to myself 'if I could have a tenth of that confidence, I would go talk to him' but I didn't. I was self conscious and so shy, I just wanted to get to know him to see if I could get some of that shine directed at me." Zayn twisted his wrist and Louis groaned deeply.

 

"This is a nice story Zayn, but can we talk about it after you've sucked me off?"

 

"Shut up, you bossy little shit I'm trying to have a moment."

 

"Can I get the abridged version my cock is about to break off in a minute."

 

"Oh my god, you fucking wanker. I've liked you since boot camp, arsehole, so no I don't think you've liked me longer than I've liked you." Louis was about to retort when Zayn leaned in, sliding Louis’ cock all the way in his mouth until his nose nudged hip. Louis gasped a whine, hands scrabbling over Zayn’s scalp and fisting in his shirt when they couldn’t get a good grip. Zayn looked up through his lashes and Louis smacked the side of his head.

 

“Shut up, prick.” Zayn pulled off to take a breath and huffed a laugh.

 

“Didn’t say anything.”

 

“Shut up anyway, I’m close.” Louis leaned his head back and Zayn bobbed back down, giving a few deep sucks and Louis was seeing stars, coming with a shout. He heard Zayn cough but couldn’t make his body work to apologize or help him past pulling his joggers up over his cock. Eventually he could feel his fingers enough to lift up and drag them over Zayn’s lip, slipping into his mouth and Zayn licked them with an intentful stare before getting up from his knees.

 

“That good, huh?” He teased and Louis weakly punched him, pushing him away from the wall and to the bed. Zayn laid out on his back, keeping his eyes on Louis as he flopped bonelessly half on top of him.

 

“It’s been a while, shut up.” He reached over a slow hand to unbutton Zayn’s jeans and Zayn took pity on him and helped Louis reciprocate and Zayn lasted about two seconds after Louis got his mouth on him, making Louis grin up at him like a cat that got the cream, literally.

 

“Oh, stuff it!” Zayn said with a flush and an eye roll, tucking himself back in his pants.

 

"So." Louis said flopping onto Zayn, lacing his fingers over his chest and resting his chin on his hands, looking up at Zayn with a soft smile. Zayn looked at him with an equally fond face, pushing the fringe out of Louis' eyes with a gentle hand. "Since X Factor, huh?"

 

"Yes I've had a crush on you for ages now shut up and kiss me before I decide it dried up." Louis didn't need telling twice, pressing on Zayn's chest to stretch to his lips.

 

"I haven't liked you for that long, I'm not that sad."  He teased and Zayn rolled his eyes, shoving Louis half heartedly. "But it has been ages." Louis rucked Zayn’s shirt up, leaning down to press kisses all over his torso.

 

“No, don’t.” Zayn said grabbing Louis’ hand when he tried to stick his hand down the front of Zayn’s pants again. Louis looked up with a frown, hand stilled half down Zayn’s boxers. “No, I don’t mean stop forever but the guys are bringing Jasmine back any minute now and I don’t think we need to scar her or them by being in the middle of something when they come back in.” Louis made a noise of understanding and removed his hand down Zayn’s pants, running his fingers along the tattoos at his hips instead.

 

“Rain check!” Louis promised, fully intending to cash it in very soon. Zayn laughed, pulling Louis up for another kiss and grudgingly getting up off the bed.

 

“Come on,” Zayn said holding his hand out for Louis to take, “Let’s go look like we weren’t just making out and blowing each other.” Louis laughed and grabbed Zayn’s hand, leading him back out to the living room to put a game on to play to wait out the rest of the time until the boys came back with Jasmine.

 

~

 

“I meant it though,” Zayn said a few days later when he came over to chill out with Louis and help babysit Jasmine, “When I said I’d babysit if you wanted, I could watch her when you go back on tour again. No doubt my sisters would love a little lady to dress up. Would you like that Miss Jaz?” Zayn asked her, looking over his shoulder to where she was peacefully reading a book on the couch.

 

“Okay, I like to play dress up!”

 

“You’re sure?” Louis asked as he put the finishing touches on the lasagna he’d made with a recipe from his mum, sprinkling cheese on top of the dish before cutting pieces up to serve out.

 

“Yeah, it’s cool. Let you get a break from this tiny terror!” Jasmine looked up from her book and stuck her tongue out, giggling when Zayn stuck his out back.

 

“She’s the worst.” Louis said completely flatly, “Cleans up after herself, puts her clothes into the hamper, reads!” He said like it was the most scandalous thing he’d ever heard and Jasmine giggled behind her book uncontrollably.

 

“No! Not reading! Anything but that!” The three of them broke down in laughter and Zayn flung himself over onto the couch to tickle Jasmine. She shrieked and flailed, trying to escape but Zayn was too quick and soon he had her in a vice grip upside down, legs nearly knocking him out.

 

“Hey now, don’t kill each other, please! I can’t eat all this lasagna by myself!” Louis ordered and Zayn rolled his eyes with a grin and set Jasmine down on her feet, face red and hair all askew. She patted her hair down as she caught her breath and sat beside Louis at the table, Zayn on the other side. Louis cut up her piece into smaller bite sized pieces and then went to cut into his own.

 

“Thanks, daddy.” Louis froze, looking at her with wide eyes and then over to Zayn who looked between them, and Jasmine was just eating her food not even noticing Louis trying not to have a melt down right there at the table. He looked down at his plate and grinned, biting his lip to try to get himself to stop to eat and jolted a little at the foot touching his ankle on Zayn’s side, looking over at him to see what he wanted but he had a warm, soft smile on as he looked at Louis that had him flushing and shoving a large bite of lasagna into his mouth, running his foot over Zayn’s too.

 

“This is great, Lou.” Zayn said softly, pointing at his plate with his fork and nodding his head.

 

“Thanks, Z. It’s nice to know my cooking is appreciated, I only burned myself twice this time.”

 

“Oh, babe! Did you run it under cold water?” Zayn reached out for Louis’ hand, running his fingertips over the palm and slender fingers. Louis hissed when Zayn touched the burns and Zayn winced in sympathy, getting up to grab an ice cube to hold over it to soothe. He wrapped it in a paper towel to keep from freezing Louis’ fingers and took the hand back and pressed the ice to the burns, only pulling it away when Louis winced and tried to pull away. Zayn brought his hand to his mouth and pressed a light kiss to the burns and then Jasmine grabbed Louis’ other hand and smacked kisses to the palm also, wanting to be part of the hand kissing too. Louis laughed and curled both hands up, tucking them away.

 

“Thanks.” Louis looked at Zayn from under his eyelashes smiling softly and Zayn smiled warmly back.

 

“No problem.” They finished up their meal and Louis let Jasmine have a small bowl of ice cream for dessert, giving himself and Zayn much larger portions and everyone relocated into the living room to catch a few minutes of a show before settling Jasmine down for the night.

 

“Thanks for coming over, I know you’re busy with your album and all that but I’m glad you’re here.” Louis said, wrapping his arms around Zayn’s waist. Zayn smiled and pressed a kiss to Louis’ lips, deepening the kiss after a short moment.

 

“Never too busy for you and Jaz. Make my own schedule these days, I can do what I like, when I like.”

 

“Must be nice.” Louis muttered as he tucked his head into the hollow of Zayn’s shoulder and Zayn hummed softly, running his hands up and down Louis’ back.

 

“‘S not so bad. Lonely, kind of.” Louis made a soft noise that got muffled by Zayn’s shoulder and he tightened his arms around Zayn, nearly smothering him in the hug.

 

“Miss you.”

 

“‘M right here, Lou, always.” Zayn nosed at Louis’ ear, pressing a kiss to the shell of it before moving to his cheek, then the tip of his nose, his jaw, his forehead, his chin and then finally his lips. Louis pulled away after a minute and dropped his head back onto Zayn’s shoulder.

 

“I was thinking of adopting Jasmine completely.” It was quiet a long moment as Zayn ran his hands over Louis’ back.

 

“I almost forgot you were just fostering her.”

 

“Yeah, me too.” He whispered, wrapping his arms around Zayn’s torso. “Did you,” He started and then bit his lip, not really sure where he wanted to go with this. Zayn ran a hand through Louis’ hair, tugging on it when Louis didn’t continue his thought.

 

“Did I what?”

 

“Did you want to move in, with me and Jas? You’re here almost all the time anyway and-”

 

“Louis. It would never work out.” Zayn said stepping back to look at him face to face. Louis’ entire face dropped and he looked to the ground, trying to will the rejected sting in his eyes down. “Your flat’s too small for three people, you’d have to move in with me.” Louis snapped his head up, mouth dropping in surprise.

 

“Really?!”

 

“Of course, you dolt, I love you! I love you and I love Jasmine, I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Zayn grinned and Louis lunged forward to kiss him, fisting his hand in Zayn’s tank to keep him close.

 

“You’re a prick, scaring me like that.” Louis punched Zayn in the arm and he squawked in pain, rubbing the sore shoulder and laughing. Louis slung his arm around Zayn’s shoulder and they walked to the bedroom to get ready for bed. He took off everything but his pants and waited patiently for Zayn to do the same, burrowing into the covers and looked at him as he crawled into bed next to him. “Love you too.” Zayn smiled and kissed his forehead.

 

“Goodnight, Louis.”

 

~

 

Jasmine Tomlinson became official one year later. Louis couldn’t be happier, he had Jasmine and he and Zayn were still going strong. Louis had gotten Zayn a ring last month, but still hadn’t gotten the perfect time to propose yet. They hadn’t moved into Zayn’s, instead they had sold both Louis’ flat and Zayn’s house and bought an entirely different house just for the three of them on the other side of town with extra rooms just in case Louis and Zayn decided to check the foster website again and Jasmine wanted a baby sibling.

 

 


End file.
